The good news for the Red Sox is that Clay Buchholz returned to the major leagues as sharp as ever. The better news for the Red Sox is that Buchholz still has room to make progress.

“If he’s a 12-cylinder pitcher, you were looking at six or eight cylinders right now,” Boston pitching coach Juan Nieves said.

Still, with as much rust as Buchholz was shaking off on Tuesday at Tropicana Field, the Red Sox had to be thrilled with what they saw from their ace righty. Buchholz struck out six in five scoreless innings – and in the process outdueled the terrific David Price for a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Maddon said it was a better matchup for Luke Scott to be in the lineup than Wil Myers vs. Buchholz. … Maddon said he still felt the Rays had a chance to win the AL East, and that he wanted the team to look at the remaining schedule as “20 one-game series” and not get too caught up in the big picture. .. RHP Jesse Crain had another encouraging bullpen session and could face hitters as soon as Friday, optimistic he will pitch for the Rays.

Having enjoyed what they could of their last off-day of the season Monday after an early morning arrival from Seattle, the Rays tonight open their final stretch of 20 games to the finish line against the rival Red Sox.

It’s long been a foregone conclusion that Miguel Cabrera is going to win the 2013 American League Most Valuable Player Award. It’s long felt like a foregone conclusion that this will happen despite Cabrera again finishing well behind Mike Trout in league WAR. The question hasn’t been whether Trout will finish first or second; it’s been whether Trout will finish second or third or fourth or worse. We’ve already been through this, and if Cabrera has a serious challenger, it’s in the person of one Chris Davis.

Billy Crystal remembers a show in Baltimore, around 1975, when he opened for the ’50s revival act Sha Na Na.

He was an unknown comic at the time, an unknown who happened to look exactly like one of Sha Na Na’s lead singers, Johnny Contardo.

“I’m introduced and I have no billing,” Crystal says during a recent interview. “‘Please welcome another star of our show and an up-and-coming new comic …’ That was the ’70s. Whenever you heard ‘up-and-coming new comic,’ it was like ‘Ugh.’

Peter Gammons

Peter Gammons is a Hall of Fame baseball columnist and he has covered the game of baseball for the Boston Globe, ESPN and the MLB Network. GammonsDaily.com features analysis from Peter Gammons as well as some of nation's top baseball analysts.